Photograph courtesy of Desert ArtLAB

Join IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art’s (MoCNA) tri-monthly book club called, The MoCNA Reader. Inspired by our exhibition, Desert ArtLAB: Ecologies of Resistance, we take up Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience, by Rarámuri author and renown Indigenous ethnobotanist, Enrique Salmón.

“Eating is not only a political act, it is also a cultural act that reaffirms one’s identity and worldview,” says Salmón. Negotiating a range of cultures, including the Tohono O’odham people and the Rarámuri people of Sierra Tarahumara, the book is a passage through the Southwest and Northern Mexico. Salmón weaves historical and cultural knowledge with narratives that American Indian farmers have shared to demonstrate how traditional Indigenous foodways—from crop cultivation to the cooking of meals—are rooted in a longstanding understanding of environmental stewardship.

Stop by and see Desert ArtLAB: Ecologies of Resistance for inspiration and participate in a lively discussion. Purchase a copy of Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience online or at the MoCNA Museum Store.

For more information, please contact MoCNA Membership and Program Manager Andrea R. Hanley (Navajo) at (505) 428-5907 or ahanley@iaia.edu.